Beware the Sweet Talk

[Hongxiu Reading’s First Global Writing Contest: Most Popular Work Award] Word has it that Fu Shiyu, a celebrated architect in the industry, has fallen so far that he’s designing a small guesthouse? His peers are stunned, convinced that the great Fu has lost all his prestige and ruined his image. Then they meet his breathtakingly beautiful business partner, Tang Xien, a top lawyer known in legal circles as “the Gentle Blade.” The onlookers have their verdict: the cool, chaste architect Fu has fallen to the Gentle Blade! On the guesthouse’s opening day, Tang Xien and creative designer Fu Shiyu sit down for an interview. Reporter: “I hear Mr. Fu designed it for free. Is that true?” Fu Shiyu, expressionless: “That’s not true. No comment!” Reporter: “Counselor Tang, what’s your secret for getting Mr. Fu to do the design himself?” Tang Xien, perfectly calm: “Secret? We just fell in love.” [A lawyer who’s a force of nature versus an architect who says one thing but means another]